


One and a Half

by evilwriter37



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Gen, PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2019-12-01
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:48:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21637630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evilwriter37/pseuds/evilwriter37
Summary: Hiccup gets into the habit of counting his legs every time he wakes up.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 56





	One and a Half

The first thing Hiccup did when he woke up was throw back his blankets, panting, and stare at his legs. One… and half. Just like it had been yesterday when he’d woken up. That was relieving. But the idea of waking up with part of his leg missing, the memory of it… Hiccup shuddered, hugged his arms to himself. But no, he was fine. Perfectly fine. He was getting used to being an amputee. The prosthetic helped a lot.

There was still that fear though. It had been horrifying to wake up with part of his body missing, and now it seemed he was afraid of it happening again. He had to check every morning.

  
  


And so he did. He checked the next morning, and the morning after that. It was always in a panic with hard breaths and a racing heartbeat, never calm. Toothless would put his forelegs on the bed, nuzzle his nose against his face, try to calm him. It would work, up until the next morning. 

  
  


“Hiccup!” 

His father’s voice and steps on the stairs woke him up. Hiccup jolted upright, was throwing back his blankets and staring at his legs as his father came up into the loft. He didn’t want his father to see him doing this, but he couldn’t quite stop it either. He counted. One and a half. One and a half. One… and a half. This was all of him now, and all of him was here. Nothing else missing. Just the part that had been missing for months now. 

“Hiccup?”

Hiccup looked up at his father, chest heaving. He tried taking a deep breath.

“Yeah, what is it?”

“Are you okay?”

Hiccup swallowed, nodded. One and a half. 

“I’m fine.”

“You were looking at your legs.”

“And?”

“You looked panicked.”

Hiccup sighed, brushed a hand through his hair. These kinds of heartfelt discussions with his father were new, but Stoick really seemed to be trying. 

“I was,” he answered. Stoick came and sat on the side of his bed. “But I’m fine now.”

Stoick nodded, as if in understanding. “Sometimes, when bad things happen to us, we can’t get it out of our head. It takes a while to heal from them.”

“But I’m healed from the fight,” Hiccup said, not understanding.

Stoick tapped his head. “In here, son. You’ve still got some healing to do in here.”

Hiccup nodded. Now he understood. He took a deep breath, looked down, counted his legs one more time. Everything was in order.

“What is it you need?” he asked.


End file.
